Academic Studies Press is pleased to announce a new series in "Evolution, Cognition, and the Arts."

We invite book proposals on any aspect of evolution, cognition, and the arts:

theory, criticism, empirical research, or any combination of the three;

the arts in general, or a particular art, such as architecture, comics, dance, drama, film, literature, music, television, or any of the visual arts, from handaxes and basketry to installations, or any combination of different arts;

in a particular genre or period, or particular artist(s) / composer(s) / performer(s) / writer(s), or audiences or readers, or across periods and genres or from creators and performers to audiences;

at particular life stages, from childhood to maturity, or across the life span;

or from particular angles, such as the anthropological, philosophical, or psychological.

Proposals may be informed by evolutionary and/or cognitive research in aesthetics, anthropology, archaeology, biology, economics, neuroscience, and/or psychology, as well as, of course, by a sensitive understanding of the art(s) and examples under investigation. Empirical work may include experiments with or analysis of audience response, research in the digital humanities, or other fruitful methods. The advisory board includes leaders in evolutionary and cognitive work on literature, film, music and the visual arts, and in evolutionary and cognitive aesthetics, anthropology, archaeology, biology, economics, neuroscience, and psychology.

In this series, we assume that culture matters, but also that biology does; that human universals matter, but that local variables and individual differences do too. We hope for work that is academically rigorous but also seeks to engage with the large audience interested in the arts and in why and how the arts matter to us.